Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

A new method for the practical identification and recognition of trees -- and an important supplement to existing botanical methods.

The book is in two parts: Pictorial Keys and Master Pages. The Keys are designed for easy visual comparison of details which look alike, narrowing the identification of a tree to one of a small group -- the family or genus.

Then, in the Master Pages, the species of the tree is determined, with similar details placed together to highlight differences within the family group, thus eliminating all other possibilities. The details of the Oak trees on this plate are an example of the system.

All of the more than 1500 photographs were made specifically for use in this book and were taken either in the field or of carefully collected specimens. Where possible, details such as leaves, fruit, etc., appear in actual size, or in the same scale.

Average Customer Rating:

great for desk reference	Customer Rating:
this book is huge and not very sturdy. I wouldnt recommend it as a field guide. However, its a great reference. Every since I picked it up i have been doing much better in my dendrology labs. The pictures of the twigs, fruits and leaves are life sized, which helps alot. Too bad its not color! Hopefully, someday they will come out with a more durable, color version.

The tree book I always turn to

Customer Rating:

I own more than a dozen tree books, but this is the one I turn to first to check on the identity of an uncommon tree. The black and white photographs of leaves, twigs, bark, fruit, thorns, and blossoms are clear and extremely well chosen to represent the variety of trees and the variability within species. I teach tree identification workshops and find that this book is the one that gives folks who are new to tree id the resources and orientation to be successful at it. Nothing beats it for identifying trees in winter: twigs are distinctive and this book is the only source of comprehensive id information. You may also want to own regional tree books, and books with detailed range and other info, but to identify trees, this is essential.

Decent book for starters

Customer Rating:

Mixed review. For identification of wholly unknown trees it can narrow searches down quickly and give an idea of the family of trees. For a beginner this is an excellent book. However for more experienced tree identifiers, this book is entirely unhelpful for identifying the differences between, for instance, scarlet oak, southern red oak, northern red oak, shumard oak, georgia oak, bear oak, turkey oak, cherrybark oak, pin oak, northern red oak, and black oak. This book would only provide four oaks to choose from in the above list and not give as detailed of a handling of those trees. For a much more detailed handling of tree identification in the Southeast I would recommend Native Trees of the Southeast by Kirkman, Brown and Leopold.

The Tree Identification Book by George W. D. Symonds	Customer Rating:
Excellent resource book for anyone seeking to identify trees by their leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, twigs, buds or thorns. Even though the photos are in black and white, their 3-dimensional appearance helps very much in identifying a tree.

a picture is worth a thousand words	Customer Rating:
The photos in this book make it easy to compare what you have in your hand with what's in the book. They are large enough for real comparison, and there is a wide variety of trees described in different ways. It's a useful companion to a more wordy tree encyclopedia.